Giving Compass' Take:

• Writing for Africa's Mail & Guardian, Ford Foundation's Nicolette Naylor discusses the need for tackling issues of sexual harassment, gender inequity and prejudices within the social sector.

• Is there enough transparency and accountability among organizations today among the issues listed in this piece? It's time to live up to our own ideals.

• For more, read what UN Women's first spokesperson on sexual harassment has to say on the topic.

As the local director of a funding organization, a human rights attorney, and as a South African woman, I am glad this country is now having a serious conversation about sexual harassment and violence against women in our workplaces. It is long overdue. And to be clear, it is not only overdue generally, it is particularly overdue among social justice organizations.

Acknowledging the tricky power dynamics between funders and the organizations we support, I’d nonetheless like to make some initial suggestions for what we might collectively start thinking about:

  • We should all agree that there is a higher duty of care with social justice organizations in cases of sexual harassment, racism and homophobia and come together to develop a common set of principles and values to hold ourselves as a sector to account. This could include how we define zero tolerance and acceptable due diligence amongst civil society organizations. How do we provide technical support to assist organizations to navigate sexual harassment cases and awareness better?
  • We could try to break the silence by documenting and sharing good practices for handling cases of sexual harassment and speak more openly and publicly about the challenges faced when implementing policy at all levels in the organization (staff, leadership and board) bearing in mind the importance of protecting complainants’ privacy and rights at all times.
  • We need to workshop how best donors can support a transformative agenda in this space that is less reactive, and geared toward addressing systemic and structural challenges.

Read the full article about how social justice organizations must do more to address sexual harassment by Nicolette Naylor at Mail & Guardian.